Marsh buck down!! UPDATED.....STORY ADDED

[Dewey]

Didn't get him back to the truck till 12:30 am. so I am pretty beat. I will add more in the next few days.

Here is a picture at the kill site. Better pics to come.



Not a monster but I am very happy. First beast style kill and first buck killed on opening day.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[DEERSLAYER]

That's Awesome Dewey! A huge Congrats to you!!!! Can't wait for some more pics.

[Dewey]

Had some extra time so thought I would write up a story on my 2013 Public Marsh beast style kill.

It all started opening weekend of last season. Had a pretty good day saw a few bucks but I just wasn't in the right position for a shot so I decided to do more scouting over the winter to find exact locations of the beds. This is an overlooked spot that nobody else hunts because it is pretty wide open with clumps of trees scattered all over a large area. While scouting in winter/spring I followed tracks right to the suspected bedding area and came up with a plan for what exact trees to hunt depending on the wind. Any south wind or even west would work best. All I could do is wait for opening day and hope for a good wind.

Well yesterday was opening day and as luck would have it I was blessed with a SW wind which was absolutely perfect for my approach from the north.

I started heading in around noon so I could take my time and get set up plenty early. I got about 100 yards away and decided to sit down a bit to relax and get into beast mode for my final approach.

Here is my resting spot.



I sat here for a good half hour just observing and getting in tune with everything being that it was opening day. I wanted to be absolutely sure I made zero noise the last 100 yards and until my stand was set up. Like a blessing the wind suddenly got real gusty and that was my cue to make my way to my tree with the wind covering my noise.

When I arrived at the tree I wanted to sit in it was at that moment that I knew I had a very huge problem! The tree was taken over by bees and there was no chance that I was setting up there. They chased me out and left me looking for a backup plan. I only had one option which was a small white oak tree. The night before I was reading Dan's article in North American Whitetail on hunting low stands so thought I would give it a chance since that tree was right where I needed to be. Little did I know at that time but those bees were going to be an instrumental key to my coming success.

Here is my stand set up in that tree. When standing on the ground my chin could actually rest on the platform!



Here I am all nestled in patiently waiting for some action. Notice the canopy that gave me excellent coverage yet gave me a few great shooting lanes.



I was sitting among acorns so all I needed to do was wait for feeding time. The marsh grass around the tree was all matted down from feeding.



Everything was very quiet but I made sure to stay alert because I knew a buck could be coming from the bedding area to my right at any time. Right around 6:30pm I heard the unmistakeable sound of a good size deer walking in the marsh grass but it was still out of view. I stayed seated and had my release clipped on waiting to get a visual and just like I planned here comes a good buck right along the cattail transition coming from the bedding area. As soon as he got behind part of the canopy I was in I drew back but suddenly I noticed he was coming to my tree to feed on acorns!

I knew it was now or never so I decided to take a slight quartering toward shot at only 7 yards. Since I was only 5 feet off the ground and the vertical shot angle was good I slipped an arrow slightly behind and through the shoulder blade angling back to the liver confident my Muzzy would do the job. The arrow buried past the fletchings and I saw my Nocturnal disappear. At the point I was pretty confident he would be dead very quick but always nervous until I see them on the ground. He ran straight away from me into the cattails and then cut left along an opening that is usually water. Shortly after I heard a crash and figured he was done.

This pic was taken moments after the shot. He was in the hole at the bottom right of the pic when I shot. You can actually see where he kicked up the marsh grass when he spun.



I waited on stand for about a half hour replaying everything in my mind over and over and figured he was done. At this point I figured I should at least look for blood at the point of impact and maybe find my arrow.

Here is the view the buck had shortly before he got shot.



At the edge of the cattails I found my arrow completely covered in blood. I love the Nocturnals!



Found a fairly steady light blood trail but felt pretty confident he was down so I kept going towards where I heard the crash. Sure enough he was down in about 100 yards!

Here he is when I found him. The light was not real good so my iPhone pics are kinda grainy.





I tagged him and decided to drag him out of the cattails without gutting since I left my knife in the truck. As soon as I started dragging I knew I was in for a long night. Called my wife to let her know what was going on and she was excited about helping me get the buck out! I wasn't so sure about that since it was a 1/2 mile drag through marsh grass but she insisted anyway. By the time she met me and we got back to the deer it was about 9:30 pm. I gutted the buck and found both lungs and liver punctured. Muzzy did it's job well. I rolled him up in my plastic deer sled tightened with ratchets. The bottom is super slick and it actually pulled pretty easy. It still took us about 3 hours to cover the 1/2 mile taking plenty of breaks and just enjoying the moment. In hindsight I am very happy I was able to share that with my wife and I am quite proud of her dealing with rather warm conditions, tons of bugs and a long drag without one single complaint. Pretty good for a yuppie girl like Phil Robertson would say!

Finally my buck was home and took a few more pics.





Put him on the scale and weight right on 190 lbs dressed. When I saw him I originally thought 3 year old based on body size but the rack didn't seem to match the body.

Now I'm leaning toward a REALLY good 2 year old.



Well here is the good part and something I don't normally post online. Here is an aerial of the set up and pretty much explains it all. If it helps somebody else kill a buck in a similar situation I would be very happy. I came in from the north to approach my stand. The buck came to me with the wind coming out of the cattails following the transition. After the shot the buck ran straight south quartering into the wind.




I truly loved how my plan all came together exactly how I envisioned it. This is my first beast style kill and first opening day buck. Also first kill out of a LW stand and first kill with my Bowtech Assassin.

He is not a slob like I am usually after but hunting beast style I feel I need to start somewhere for my first kill and work my way up from here. My largest bucks all came from the rut but hope in the future I can get better at killing larger bucks early in the season. This was a great confidence booster and excited for the future.

I guess that pretty much sums it up. Hope you all enjoyed the story.

[goldtip5575]

Congrats good job.Got it done on opening night to.

[Singing Bridge]

That didn't take long! Way to go Dewey, congrats!

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[Bucky]

Congrats!

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[adrenalin]

Awesome!! Congrats in a great buck!

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[hunter_mike]

Congratulations dewey!!

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[Pullintoobs]

Nice Dewey! Made a short season out of it huh?

[UPbowhunter]

Great work Dew!

[ Post made via Android ]

[headgear]

Way to go Dewey!!! Big congrats!

[Edcyclopedia]

That's what I'm talkin about - SPECTACULAR!...

Way to go

[Jackson Marsh]

Great job Dewey!

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[PredatorTC]

Way to go dewey! It was exciting watching your whole hunt unfold!

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[BuckTrack81]

Congrats Dewey, way to go.... Thats awesome!!!!!

[ Post made via iPhone ]